A key driver for being self accountable is to have a personal brand. Dan Shawbel’s book Me 2.0 is the inspiration for this concept. What is your personal brand? Regardless of our position at work and life, it pays to reflect on this and to consciously establish one. You and I have a brand one way or another. People describe who we are by the behavioral traits we display. Why not take proactive action in defining and living to it? John Antonios does a nice job of interpreting this on his blog.
Phase 1 – Discovering YOUR Brand. This is the stage of self-discovery. We will learn to more about ourselves at this stage of our Personal Brand development. We should be asking yourself some of these questions:
- Who am I?
- What makes me unique?
- What are my strengths? How can I turn these strengths into opportunities?
- What resources can I draw on?
- What are my weaknesses? What can I improve? What threats do these weaknesses expose me to?
Phase 2 – Crafting OUR Brand. After discovering our brand, you need to see how to best package it. Here’s what we need to think about:
- What is my slogan?
- How should my avatar look like?
- What tone should I use to reflect what I intend to deliver?
Phase 3 – Connecting OUR Brand. At this stage, our brand is ready to go out and play. We need to share with our brand with our audience and earn their attention. Consider the following question:
- What are the best platforms to communicate my brand?
- Where is my audience located and how can I reach them?
- What tools should I use to deliver my brand promise?
Phase 4 – Managing OUR Brand. This is where Reputation Management kicks in. The brand has been released into the wilderness and you need to develop a brand listening station. Some questions you might want to consider are:
- What tools can I use to monitor my brand conversation?
- Who is talking about my brand? And how can I connect with them?
- How should I react to negative feedback about my brand?
Thank you to Swabel and Antonios for giving us more tools to drive the Character Triangle and specifically self accountability. We are our brand. If you have a Brand Slogan, please post it as a comment to this blog. We can all help and learn from each other.
with Character,
Lorne
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